Electronic commerce (a.k.a., e-commerce) technology holds the promise of introducing efficiencies into marketplace and trading activities by automating many trading activities, providing near real-time information to both buyers and sellers and providing convenient channels between buyers and sellers. The ubiquity of the Internet, in particular, has led to the widespread utilization of this technology as a platform for the conducting of electronic commerce and for providing global on-line marketplaces. The increasing globalization of business and trading, no doubt facilitated by the Internet, has exposed a number geographic and regional challenges to electronic commerce. For example, the automated functionality provided by an electronic commerce facility may be unsuitable for global deployment for language, cultural and other reasons.